E2M6: The Labyrinth (Heretic)

E2M6: The Labyrinth is the sixth level in the Hell's Maw episode of Heretic. It uses the music track "Onyx" by Kevin Schilder.

Essentials
Open the door in front of you and kill any gargoyles and weredragons waiting outside, then follow the ice path north between two lava pools to reach a door leading to the labyrinth room. Enter the labyrinth through the north-western doorway and follow the steps up to a junction with an Ethereal Crossbow, then go east at the first junction and south at a second junction to reach the yellow key - watch out for gargoyles and fire gargoyles emerging from the gaps in the surrounding walls. Leave the labyrinth by any route then go to the north-east corner of the room to find a yellow key door.

Open the yellow key door and kill any gargoyles waiting behind it, then proceed west or north through another door to get on to a catwalk which runs around a large ice pit containing more gargoyles as well as sabreclaws. Step over any of the low walls around the catwalk to drop into the arena, then head for the wooden column near the center and blow up the pods on the east side of this column to clear your path to a door, then open it to find the green key being guarded by another sabreclaw. Enter the nearby teleporter to land on a Dragon Claw next to the yellow key door, then go back through that door before proceeding to the south-west corner of the labyrinth room to find a green key door.

Go through the green key door and turn right to kill one or more approaching weredragons, then proceed south until you see an opening in the wall on your left leading to a Tome of Power. Go down the south staircase then follow the hallway east and north past some gargoyles until you reach a door in the west wall, then open it to fire more gargoyles guarding the blue key. With the blue key in your possession, head back to the labyrinth room and go to the blue key door in the south-east corner; open this door then push past some golems and nitrogolems to a square chamber. Press the switch at the north end of the chamber, which is guarded by one or two disciples of D'Sparil, to open the stained-glass window in the east wall and reveal an iron lich. Destroy the lich then step through the window to find a Mystic Urn, a Phoenix Rod and the exit teleporter.

Other points of interest
A Firemace can spawn in one of the following locations:
 * At the south-east entrance to the labyrinth.
 * Inside a cavern on the south-west side of the green key area, along with a Shadowsphere.
 * Inside the sludge pool on the south-east side of the green key area, behind some pods.
 * In front of the switch that opens the exit teleporter.

After getting the blue key, head east through a door then look north to see that a wall has lowered revealing a second door to the east. Go up the steps, which hold stacks of Mace Spheres and a Pile of Mace Spheres (two of the stacks are replaced with Flame Orbs on thou art a smite-meister (TAASM) and black plague possesses thee (BPPT) skill levels), to reach a hallway with a Map Scroll.

Secrets

 * 1) Go through the north-west door to the labyrinth chamber then step east on to the ice. You will hear a mural open behind you - step through it before it shuts to find Gauntlets of the Necromancer. (sector 242)
 * 2) Open the mural with the chained man on the east wall of the labyrinth room to find a Morph Ovum and a Silver Shield. (sector 151)
 * 3) As you walk through the yellow key door you will hear a mural open behind you. Step through it before it shuts to get a Bag of Holding. (sector 233)
 * 4) As you walk through the green key door you will hear a mural open behind you. Step through it before it shuts to get a Tome of Power. (sector 37)
 * 5) Enter the teleporter next to the blue key to reach the neighboring chamber with weredragons and a Hellstaff. Leave this chamber then return to the green key door and head south - part of the west wall has opened, revealing a cavern with two Crystal Vials (three on thou needeth a wet-nurse and yellowbellies-r-us), two stacks of Mace Spheres and a Pile of Mace Spheres (or Flame Orb on TAASM and BPPT). (sector 21) A second cavern to the north holds a Flame Orb and an Enchanted Shield.
 * 6) In secret #5, walk into the west wall which is slightly brighter than the surrounding walls. The wall will open to reveal one or two disciples guarding a Phoenix Rod. (sector 30)
 * 7) As you walk through the blue key door you will hear a mural open behind you. Step through it before it shuts to get a Ring of Invulnerability. (sector 65)

Bugs

 * Linedef 238 has its upper texture on the wrong side. The arrangement causes a visual glitch on the northern side of the blue key door.
 * Sidedefs 1,099 and 1,121 lack upper textures at the top of the two staircases near the blue key. The walls are 32 map units high.

Current records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 10, 2023.

Player spawns
This level contains four spawn points:
 * 1) facing east. (thing 4)
 * 2) facing north. (thing 5)
 * 3) facing west. (thing 6)
 * 4) facing south-west. (thing 19)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: